It’s been a while since I’ve written anything, mainly because work has been hectic and i’ve been travelling. But the upcoming Christmas season is a good time to take stock of our (busy) year – where has 2018 gone! When I started this blog in January, it was largely a way to set out some thoughts that could be useful for someone else to read. Since then, I’ve written ten articles, we’ve started a proper firm blog, and it’s been a great year backing some incredible companies and helping others take the next stage of their journey under new ownership. So with that in mind, I thought i’d end the year on a positive note as people spend the last stretch to Christmas trying to hit targets, plan for next year and get some well deserved R&R.
I recently was in Europe, meeting some fascinating companies and founders at World Summit AI. A lot of people say that early stage VC is about pattern matching – does Company X meet Y growth rate or are there more than two founders of which one is technical? So I tried to look at what separated what I thought were the most dynamic founders from their peers. Above all, I think there was one specific quality which they had in common – they were doing something each day to improve themselves and others. Whether it was reading, writing, volunteering, speaking, training or mentoring there was a perpetual curiosity and learning and a desire to make things better.
At the core, a decision to invest in an early stage technology company usually comes down to two main things:
1) is this technology going to be around in 5-10 years time and still relevant
2) Are these the people that are going to deliver it
The only way to do both 1) and 2) is to keep evolving your thoughts, learning from others, building great products and researching things that seem irrelevant now but could be very relevant later. Like Steve Jobs dabbling in calligraphy which formed the fonts for MacOS or Elon Musk’s self taught principles of rocket design which started SpaceX, the world is now a place where you can learn almost anything, online for free.
I was talking to a person at a corporate the other day who was thinking about starting a business but wasn’t sure if they should step off the ledge. They asked me what step 1 was and I said it was simple – start the business. They said it sounded costly and weren’t sure if they were up for the risk. I said the better question is what have you got to lose by NOT starting. 10 years ago you’d have to attribute a million dollars to buy servers to start a software business but today we can (for free or minimal cost ) build a website in Wix, host a store on Shopify, create a chat bot on Dialogflow, test demand on Kickstarter and learn how to code on Udemy or learn anything else on YouTube. The greatest advantage of technology to society is the democratisation of knowledge and opportunity.
So back to the title, AirBnB was started in 2007 where Brian Chesky and Joe Gebbia moved from NY to SF without jobs and couldn’t make rent. They tried to make some extra income by renting out air beds. It turned out quite well for them (after a lot of hard yards). It’s like Robert Kiyosaki says “the difference between the rich and poor is how they spend their spare time”. I’ll paraphrase it in a different way; your level of impact or success is determined directly by what you do each day that others are not doing. So over the break, I encourage everyone to reassess how they spend their time, why they love (or do not love) it and what else they could be doing to pursue their goals
That’s not to say don’t have a break – the act of stepping out from the daily grind can provide new and challenging perspectives. But the key is to be mindful to whether the activities we do enrich us as people. If you aren’t looking at ways to improve yourself or others in your spare time, what are you doing? We all have the tools, to get out there, learn something, start something and make a difference – how big or small us up to us. So many of the best ideas have been started on kitchen tables, or by reading one book or by meeting one new person. There’s no reason why yours can’t be next.
Merry Christmas to you all – I hope you eat all the ham.